Martin O’Neill says that recruitment will be key for Celtic ahead of the Champions League qualifying match in August.
His comments will inevitably trigger flashbacks for many Hoops fans after last season’s disastrous exit to Kairat Almaty, a contributing factor in the breakdown in relations between Brendan Rodgers and the Parkhead hierarchy.
Rodgers felt that the team were under-equipped, whilst the club felt that he was pushing a self-serving narrative in the media.
Regardless of which side you bought into (if either), the memories are fresh in the mind, as O’Neill has discussed.
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Martin O’Neill: Celtic Champions League qualifiers ‘fraught with difficulty’
Speaking in an interview with Track Radio, O’Neill said: “Absolutely, [recruitment is going to be key]. You’ve nailed it. It’s exactly right.
“We get a two-legged qualification game towards the end of August time.
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“We will have started a season, we will be into it by a couple of matches. But the teams that we are likely to face will have had summer times and games in front of us.
“I even felt this going away back 20-odd years ago, when I was in charge at Celtic:
“The teams that you felt you could definitely beat in, let’s say, early November, you would find really difficult to beat in, let’s say, the second or third week in August, because of the match advantages that they would have over you.
“So yeah, it’s fraught with difficulty in that sense. Celtic failed last year to make it [against Kairat], probably in two games where they would’ve been expecting to go through.
“So I will be concerned, but as you say, excited at the same time that there’s an opportunity for that.”
O’Neill took Celtic into the knockout stages of the Europa League this season, masterminding away results against Feyenoord, Bologna and Stuttgart.
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Martin O’Neill’s impact in the 2025-26 season at Celtic
Upon the sudden resignation of Rodgers, we were also given the news that O’Neill would return to Glasgow after six years away from football management.
Any questions over his age were completely quashed as the Hoops won seven of their eight games under his interim charge… only to make way for the disastrous reign of Wilfried Nancy.
Upon his return, the team’s form picked up again, but a league and cup double looked a long shot.
23 games, 19 wins and just two defeats later… O’Neill delivered a double that nobody foresaw… or wanted, outside of Celtic Park.
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